This application is related to co-pending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/477,568 and 09/477,571 filed concurrently herewith and hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to a three-dimensional display apparatus. In particular, the present invention is directed to a display comprised of a plurality of pixels, each pixel being comprised of a plurality of cells, which is capable of displaying an image in three-dimensions.
2. Description of Related Art
The ability to accurately recreate images in three dimensions has long been sought after. Three-dimensional displays may be very important in such areas as entertainment, medical imagery, architectural design, and a plethora of other areas. The result of this long felt need for three-dimensional displays has been the development of advanced ways of tricking the human brain into believing that the images seen by the eye are in three dimensions.
For example, computers may use perspective drawing techniques to represent three dimensions on a two dimensional screen. Some pictures and optical illusions, when stared at, give the impression of some depth due to the brain's pattern recognition capabilities and the brain's desire to interpret what is seen in a meaningful way. “Virtual reality” goggles make use of doubling a two dimensional perspective image so that the brain interprets the perspective as depth. Other methods of tricking the brain, such as holography and 3D glasses, have been used with limited success.
Thus, the attempts at creating three-dimensional imagery have failed at creating an actual three-dimensional display and must therefore, rely on tricks to fool the human brain into believing what is seen is a three-dimensional image. In view of the above, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus to provide an actual three-dimensional image.